


Put You Back Together

by TheMeaningofHaste



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Ableism, First Kiss, Happy ending though I swear, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-06 23:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1876542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMeaningofHaste/pseuds/TheMeaningofHaste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m not weak Buck,” he whispered, looking ahead with determination. “I know I can’t do much and am probably more of a burden than you deserve but I am not weak.”</p><p>	Behind him Bucky stiffened, his hand freezing in place momentarily where they were inspecting each rib for possible damage. Suddenly Bucky was pushing him forward and turning him around until their noses were almost touching. Steve had never seen a more serious look on his friends face.</p><p>	“Steven Grant Rogers. Listen to me carefully when I say that you are not weak and you are most definitely not a burden on me.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put You Back Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aestherisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestherisms/gifts).



> This is another gift fic for the Star Spangled Exchange for Ashliee. Go check her out on tumblr! 
> 
> She asked for pre-serum hurt/comfort and I hope this is what she had in mind!
> 
> Enjoy!

“Dammit Steve, can’t you just leave well enough alone?”Bucky pushed the smaller boy up the flight of stairs in front of him, desperate to just get them in the relative safety of their apartment. Every damn day they were here it seemed. Steve bleeding and wheezing his way back home after picking another fight with some strangers over an issue that was never really any of his business. But, Bucky thought as Steve unlocked the front door, that was part of what he loved about his friend.

                “They were harassing her Buck. It wasn’t right,” Steve said in between wheezing breaths as he collapsed in to one of the rickety kitchen chairs. The climb up the stairs had only aggravated the asthma attack that had been threatening since the scuffle.

                Bucky shook his head as he rummaged through their drawers for a clean rag and hoped that there was enough medicine left in Steve’s inhaler to get them through the week until he got paid. “Look at you though Stevie, if I hadn’t gotten sent home from work early who knows what woulda happened to you.” The older boy knelt down on the floor so they were level and took in every scrape, the black eye that was starting to bloom, the trickle of blood coming slowly from him busted nose. He just hoped that this time there was nothing internally wrong that would flare up.

                Steve groaned in the same offended way he always did whenever Bucky suggested he couldn’t handle his own weight. “It wasn’t that bad Bucky.”

                “Sure it wasn’t, you just got a busted lip and a black eye for fun. Thought it might impress the dames.” Bucky turned the cloth to a clean spot and began to wipe at the blood that was beginning to clot around his nose.

“I had them on the ropes Buck.” The gentle press of the damp cloth to his busted lip made him hiss.

                Bucky sighed, all fight draining out of him at the small wince the blond tried to hide. “What about next time when you don’t?” He tried his best to keep his frustration from being transferred into the delicate wipes he made at the blood that was drying around those bright blue eyes.

                Steve pushed his hand away with a frown. “I don’t need you to take care of me Buck. I’m not a child and I can get by just fine on my own.” He made to push Bucky away and stand up but the sudden exertion brought down the impending attack and he fell back as his lungs constricted. Steve’s eyes were wide with panic, his hands coming to grasp at his chest that heaved under the exertion as every breath became a fight. No matter how many of these episodes they had been through together each one still sent a chill of terror down Bucky’s spine. What is this was the time that Steve couldn’t pull through?

                The fear sent Bucky scrambling backwards, running towards to door to the bedroom to grab Steve’s spare inhaler, reaching to pull the quilt off the bed and bring it back with him. It was only November but the winter chill was already starting to seep through the walls of their tiny apartment and attacks took a lot out of Steve. He took the last few steps back to Steve in a slide, ignoring the jolt of pain in his knees as they hit the wood floor and shaking the small canister and saying a silent prayer of thanks when he heard more than an empty rattle. “Just breathe Stevie, just breathe,” he coaxed as he held the inhaler up to Steve’s lips.

                Steve’s fragile body shook as the medicine flooded his lungs, slowly easing the flow of air in to his lungs. After two more pumps his breathing was slow and deep, almost all traces of wheezing gone. Exhausted from the ordeal, Steve looked like he was about to fall out of his seat so Bucky pulled him down to the floor and in to his lap so that Steve’s bony back was pressed up against his chest. The steady rhythm of his breaths was a comforting sound and Bucky let himself slump back against the counter, adrenaline leaving his body as relief set in. They had made it through. Steve was going to be fine.

                “See this is what happens when you try to disagree with me Steve-o. Just go along with whatever I say from now on okay? It will save us both a lot of time.” Bucky brushed away the blonde locks from where they had fallen into Steve’s eyes. Steve let out a choked laugh as he relaxed into the strong arms wrapped around him.

                He let his eyes flutter shut as strong, warm hands slowly traced over every inch of him, checking for any possible damage. A roughly calloused thumb brushed over the bump in his nose from where it had been broken one too many times. Gentle fingers ran over his, rubbing gently across the small bony nodules that had formed in the joints there after a lengthy battle with Rheumatic Fever as a kid. One hand rested over his heart, feeling the steady beat and checking for the murmur that sometimes appeared during stress. An index finger traced the curve of his spine, twisted slightly to the right from the scoliosis. The hands traced down to his knees which ached in the cold, rubbing small soothing circles into the muscle tissue. Behind him Steve knew that dark eyes noticed every premature grey hair and he hated it. Hated that there was so much wrong with him for Bucky to find.

                “I’m not weak Buck,” he whispered, looking ahead with determination. “I know I can’t do much and am probably more of a burden than you deserve but I am not weak.”

                Behind him Bucky stiffened, his hand freezing in place momentarily where they were inspecting each rib for possible damage. Suddenly Bucky was pushing him forward and turning him around until their noses were almost touching. Steve had never seen a more serious look on his friends face.

                “Steven Grant Rogers. Listen to me carefully when I say that you are not weak and you are most definitely not a burden on me.”

                Steve looked down, no longer able to meet such an intense gaze and instead focused on the way those pink lips moved as Bucky talked. The way his upper lip pushed out slightly farther than the bottom one. The problem with being in love with your best friend in the world was that it hit you at the most random of times. Like at the grocers, trying to decide which items to spend their last pennies on based on which ones he might like more. Or now when he was talking and Steve couldn’t stop wondering what it would be like to finally kiss those soft lips.

                A finger pushed lightly under his chin, directing his gaze back up. “Steve?” Bucky whispered, the sound barely more than a breath. “I need you to understand how important you are to me.” His brows were furrowed slightly in concentration as he chewed nervously at his lip.

                Steve felt his heart surge at the words and before he could think it through, he closed the small distance between them and pressed his lips gently against the ones that were so often in his dreams. The kiss was no more than a simple touch of skin on skin and after a moment that felt like years Steve pulled away, his face red with embarrassment.

                Bucky sat completely still, his eyes glued to Steve’s as though searching for something. Steve wet his lips, his tongue dancing along nervously and whatever Bucky was looking for he must have found it because in a flash he had one of those big hands wrapped around the back of his neck, pulling him close until they connected again.

                This time the kiss was passionate, Bucky’s lips pressed firm against his. Steve sighed as he felt Bucky lick over his lips, letting his mouth fall open in an invitation to explore as he slipped his own small hands to thread through Bucky’s hair. The feeling was almost too much as he sought out more contact, more tongue, more Bucky. Steve was sure that in that moment, kissing Bucky after so many years, he had never been closer to heaven.

                So soon after an asthma attack the need for air became too great long before Steve was ready to pull away. As if he could read Steve’s mind though, and by now he probably could, Bucky pulled away, keeping his hand firm against Steve’s neck as he pressed their foreheads together.

                “If I had known that letting you get the crap beaten out of you would lead us here I would have let you get in to more of these fights,” Bucky joked, his eyes bright.

                “Punk,” Steve replied, rolling his eyes.

                Bucky shot him a cocky grin before pulling him back in for another kiss, muttering against his lips. “Jerk.”

               


End file.
